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Carol Rockwell - Noted Miniature Artist

Carol Pelno Rockwell is way more than a miniature artist, instead she should be listed as a travel artist.  During her life she has traveled extensively capturing and documenting scenes during her adventures around the country.  She is talented on many levels: an eye for detail, composition, and of course brush skill and technique.  Perhaps being a noted miniature artist is a good format for a traveling artist in this day and age.   

 Recently, Rockwell was featured in the Miniature Art Society of Florida exhibit.  Three of her paintings were amazing, two featured Florida scenes and a third was of the Upper Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park.  None of these paintings were more than four inches square, and viewers recommend using a magnifying glass to see all of the details.  Society members say that you can see the true skill and techniques of the art when inspecting the works under magnification.  

 Rockwell studied under two prominent artists, Gunter Korus and Beverly Carhart.  Korus was born in Germany and arrived in the Adirondacks in the 1960s, where he set up shop and painted.  While now in his nineties his work is still represented in galleries with top prices.  Carhart is elderly also and unlike Korus,she used an impressionistic style.  Rockwell's teachers provided structure, technique and inspiration.      

Rockwell has painted for over 35 years.  During that time she has created life-size works, murals and miniatures, however she now specializes in miniatures.  In her painting process she uses oils, acrylics and watercolors.  

 Rockwell's painting in this blog is a standard 18 X 24 inches and it reflects the Oregon coast.  Whereas it is a standard size painting, it has many of the elements that she uses in her miniature paintings.  In the distance we see tiny people, birds and ocean waves.  In the foreground, the painting consists of driftwood logs and rocks piled up as the tide rolls out.  The sky adds to the dramatic sense of depth, in the distance the viewer's eye is lead to the thin white area beside the blue hills.  It pulls the eye into the painting and keeps it there.  The overall scene provides depth.  

 Additionally, the painting provides complex and simple shapes.  The tight interlocking arrangement of the driftwood and rocks gives a sense of arbitrary clustering along the beach.  The bottom two/thirds of the painting is filled with the helter-skelter shapes.  In the distance, the top third is easy on the eye, with strong horizontal movement of sand, ocean and sky.  

 This painting of Bandon Beach with driftwood logs is an inspired interpretation of Oregon's rocky coast.  There is a sweeping sandy beach and just beyond the picture frame is the nearby charming Old Town and Port of Bandon.  Rockwell painted this scene in the late 1970s.  
"Driftwood on Bandon Beach"  (Oregon)
Oil on Linen
Signed Lower Right:  Carol Rockwell

Here are facts on Carol Rockwell (b. 1946) Tupper Lake, NY - 

Memberships:  Member of the Miniature Artists of America (MAA), Miniatures Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society (MPSGS) Miniature Art Society of Florida, Florida Watercolor Society, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Cider Painters of America and the Spring Hill Art League (FL).

 Awards:  
First Place many times in the International Miniature Art Show
Excellence in All Entries Award, International Miniature Art Show
Grumbacher Award

 Collections:
Miniature Artists of America Collection

 Exhibits annually at the Florida MAA show and as far away as Japan.
Signature Example

#carolrockwell, #carolrockwellartist, #carolpro
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